It appears the Force is still strong with Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. In an interview posted online Thursday, George Lucas said the trio from the original “Star Wars” trilogy will reprise their iconic roles of Hans Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in the new “Star Wars” film. Lucas told Bloomberg Businessweek that all three were signed for the new “Episode VII” film in advance of Lucasfilm’s $4 billion purchase by Disney. “We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison — or were pretty much in the final stages of negotiation,” Lucas said. He added: “Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do” … Disney’s Lucasfilm was coy in response. In a statement, a spokesperson for the company said, “George couldn’t say whether they were signed or not and neither can we. As Yoda said, ‘Always in motion is the future.’ Stay tuned.” A representative for Ford declined to comment. Hamill’s representatives didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

LOL! I love this. All this back and forth, it’s crazy … but we’re eating it up, ain’t we? I think the long and short of it is that the folks at Disney don’t want to confirm this news until they’re good and ready to confirm. The actors aren’t really sure if they can confirm or not so that’s why they’re all saying different things. George Lucas? He don’t care, he sold the property for $4 billion so he’s happy to blab. I think it’s fairly safe to assume that Luke, Leia and Han will appear in Star Wars: Episode VII and they will be played by Mark, Carrie and Harrison. Settled.